Forgetting is easy, forgiveness hard
![Man puts engagement ring on woman's spiked heel Man puts engagement ring on woman's spiked heel](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F51da1068-22d8-490e-82e1-ecfa1f1890d5.heic)
Editor’s note: Casual film fans, the fans who never look at the extra features and deleted scenes included with their Blu-ray discs or streaming services such as Apple TV, may not be aware that the final film script often differed significantly from the script originally envisioned by the screenwriters. Wind Eggs recently uncovered a box filled with original drafts at an estate auction in Beverly Hills, and has devoted this week to the original, alternate versions of popular films.
The final release of “While You Were Sleeping,” which featured popular actors Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman, was a classic comedy of mishaps in which Lucy Moderatz saves the life of Peter Callaghan, the man she loves from a distance. Mistaking her for his fiancé, the family embraces her, and the rest of the film depicts Lucy trying to avoid being caught up in the lie. As she stumbles through the awkward situations, Lucy falls for Peter’s brother Jack, who proposes to her by dropping a ring into her toll booth at the CTA. The original release, however, was a study in verisimilitude, and not popular with tested audiences. The following recap shows the screenwriter’s original vision.
LUCY MODERATZ SHIVERED in the Chicago Transit Authority token booth on a February morning with icicles hanging from every surface and sleet pelting the window. Sleet that drowned the Wham! song “Everything She Wants” on her cheap transistor radio (CTA employees not allowed to listen to music through their Walkmans while on duty).
A man in a cashmere overcoat with a black felt Fedora stepped toward the booth. For a moment she thought he was Peter, but when his face came into focus once she opened the foggy booth window, she realized he was just another version of that guy—dark, successful, tall, the kind who might wear a Superman suit beneath his clothes. In other words, a reflection of the Peter Callaghan archetype embedded in her subconscious.
A man in a cashmere overcoat with a black felt Fedora stepped toward the booth. For a moment she thought he was Peter, but when his face came into focus once she opened the foggy booth window, she realized he was just another version of that guy
“I could marry him,” she said under her breath as he stepped away to wait for the “L” train to collect him. Then she banged her forehead on the cramped counter. That phrase, “I’m going to marry him,” had landed her in deep shit only six weeks before. Being adopted by the Callaghan family, falling in love with their other son Jack, fending off Joe Fusco, Jr. (well, that would have happened even if she never met the Callaghans), and standing at the wedding altar with Peter when his real fiancé Ashley showed up to object.
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